Many on GS seem to say the Aston LDC's are thin and scratchy and nothing but hype yet others love them. I keep thinking there must be some bad ones out there?

A lot of people have very different ideas about what good sound is. What is scratchy to one is clear to the other. What is warm to one is dull to the other.

The Aston LDC mics are firmly in the "flattering" camp. They're not designed to be accurate. You wouldn't want to use them for orchestral recording maybe, but you can certainly make pro recordings with them.